


Kings new princess

by NoodleDK



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, DUH! It's Jack! What did you expect?, Family, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Jack wants a daughter, M/M, Murder, Slow Burn, Stockholm Syndrome, Torture, i'll add tags as i go, shock collar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2020-03-19 21:22:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18978610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoodleDK/pseuds/NoodleDK
Summary: Handsome Jack takes an interest in two people: Rickie, a girl from Pandora who Jack chooses to be his new daughter... against her will.And Rhys, who just got demoted to vice janitor and meets Jack who almost shoots him.Will Rickie and Rhys escape Handsome Jack? Do they even want to?(I will make a better summary later, promise!)





	1. The chosen one

Rickie felt so stupid! Ganging up with a bunch of pandorian thugs calling themselves 'freedom fighters' had been a bad idea. Helping them attack a Hyperion military base had just been mind-blowingly stupid!  

Of course, they had lost! Hyperion is the biggest corporation in the galaxy! What did they expect? Most had been killed, but she herself had been captured and thrown in a cell.

 

Great! That was just GREAT! She thought sarcastically, throwing her arms up in frustration.

She stopped herself in the middle of thinking: _“Now it can't get any worse”_.

_Don’t jinx it!_

 

 

She jinxed it.

 

 

Around the corner walked four guards who opened the door to her cell. She let herself be led out and down the hall.

Should she try to run? She was cuffed and they would shoot her before she had even taken five steps! Could she take out four guards who were already on alert? Not without a few bullet holes.

 

So she just went with the guards... for now, she told herself.

 

* * *

 

 

She expected torture. Gas chambers or simply, being shot in the head. Instead they led her to what looked like a shower cabin, except it didn't have a shower head or a curtain.

Rickie began struggling as her cuffed arms were pulled over her head and secured to a sturdy metal pole above the stall.

 

Perhaps this WAS torture. Maybe the drain in the floor was for her blood! Oh god how much of a mess would they make of her execution? Would she have to suffer long?

 As Rickie’s thoughts went on a joyride to crazy-town, she didn't notice the guard who grabbed her shirt with both hands and literally began tearing it to pieces.

 

 

Fuck.

 

 

Either she was going to be tortured AND humiliated or she was being raped, THEN tortured.

 

She began struggling as hard as she could but even then, it only took a couple of moments for the guards to strip her completely.

They didn't seem to be interested though. One of them simply brought out a.. fucking fire hose! Oh fucking no! She was NOT about to be hosed down like fucking cattle!

 

Nevertheless, that was just what happened. Despite her struggles, she was hosed down with icy water that hit her as hard as bullets until she was deemed 'clean' enough.

The humiliation built in her throat and almost threatened to spill her tears. She held them back, even though she was pretty sure she was to drenched for anyone to see.

She didn't feel better as she was roughly dried off with a towel.

Finally, they released her from the metal pole and she was given some clothes to wear.

 

'Clothes' was a stretch though. It consisted of white short shorts (or was it underwear?) and a strapless top that barely covered anything. They were both of the same thin material that made her hope that it WAS underwear and that it meant that they would give her something to wear over it.

 

 

* * *

 

 

After having her bronze hair dried with some kind of handheld wind-blowing device (which she first had thought was a gun!) they brushed it and shoved her into a room.

 

The heavy door locked behind her.

 _Well.. not getting out THAT way it seems_.

Taking in her surroundings, she spotted a huge mirror that covered almost the entire wall. She almost jumped at sight of herself.

She had never seemed so.. clean. Not that she had never been cleaner but with her hair brushed and the white clothes that clung to her body while standing in such a sterile room. Everything just screamed clean and sterile.

 Behind her reflection, she saw lines and numbers on the wall. It reminded her of a height chart that you could find on doorframes in homes of families with children.

 

She startled when the door opened again and another girl was shoved into the room. She was wearing the same white clothes as herself, but she was blond and maybe about two years younger.. 15-16 years old by the looks. The girl cried, which made Rickie disgusted. ' _Pathetic_ ' she thought. Tears never solved your problems. So why waste energy on it?

 The girl noticed her and immediately ran to her, making Rickie take a step back.

"Oh my god! What is happening? What are they gonna do to us? Is there any way out or something?"

This girl was about 5 seconds from having a total meltdown and 10 seconds from getting a fist to the face of she didn't get out of Rickie’s personal space. The girls face was saved by the door opening again and another girl was thrown in.

A moment later another joined, and then another and so on until they were 8 half-naked girls in the room.

Even though Rickie was scare..NO! Not scared! Simply on alert. She found herself sucking in her stomach.

 

 

A guard entered the room, carrying a pretty impressive gun.

"Okay everyone stand with your back to the wall!" The guard’s voice boomed. Rickie wanted to be defiant.. but without the gun poking holes in her, so she tried to cross her arms. It became painfully obvious that cuffs made that task both impossible and quite awkward so she dropped her hands down again.

Stupid cuffs! Stupid room! Stupid guards! And most of all stupid..

 

"Handsome Jack, sir?!"

The guard almost stammered as Handsome friking Jack entered the room. "The viewing room have been prepared for you.."

Jack turned to the guard as if he was some annoying fly that buzzed too close to his ear. On the other hand.. maybe that’s how he saw other people. When you believe that you're a god, humans just seemed to be beneath you.

 "Well I can't exactly see how they will behave around ME when it's just your ugly face that's in here."

Without even waiting for a reply, Jack turned to the girls. It took every single amount of Rickie’s self-control to not flinch or cower. Handsome Jack had this incredible aura of power that strikes everyone around him with fear. Like everyone was prey around this predator.

 

Jack went to the first girl in the row and pulled his golden gun. For now, he just pointed it lazily at the celling while resting his other fist on his hip.

 

"And what's your name, cupcake?"

The girl didn't answer but cowered with a whimper and tried to press her body as far into the corner as possible. This just seemed to piss off Jack.

"Useless." He commented, before planting a bullet in her skull, resulting in small startled screams from the girls. They all shut up when Jack turned his gaze towards them.

 "How about you?" He asked the blond girl that Rickie had been close to slap.

She looked like she was about to have a heart attack. Rickie saw how Jack quickly stepped back and looked at her feet in disgust.

"Did you just piss yourself??" He asked in disbelief.

 He went to the next girl who croaked out:

"A.. Alex."

Seeming satisfied with the answer, he stepped up the next girl, Rickie.

Rickie stood face to face with Handsome Jack himself. The tyrant who had terrorized and tortured her people! A monster who called himself a 'hero'.

"How about you, doll? What's your name?"

 _Stupid asshole !_  She thought as she spit in the jackass' face!

 

She heard gasps. Then it was quiet. Like time stood still. If she was gonna die for this, so be it! _Worth it !_

Jack was pissed. Slowly, he wiped his mask.

Then.. a shark smile spread across his face. It gave her goosebumps.

"You got spunk, kid. I'll give you that.."

Rickie regretted what she had just done as Jack quick and swiftly punched her in the throat. The pain was excruciating but Jack didn't stop there. His hand curled around her neck and slammed her head into the wall so she saw stars.

When the world came into focus Jacks face were so close that their noses almost touched.

"I assume you realize just how stupid that was and won't do it again?"

Rickie couldn't breathe. She wanted to cough after the punch but the fingers around her neck prevented her. All she could do was giving in! Unless she wanted to die by strangulation. Tears began to well up. Air. Air!

She quickly nodded. Desperate to breathe.

Jack held her gaze (and neck) for a little longer before releasing her.

"Good."

Rickie fell to her knees coughing and hacking all while trying to take deep breaths.

"This one will do. Bring 'er up!"

 _Bring her up?_ What the hell did he mean by that?

The guard took her by the arm and dragged her out. Looking back, the other girls seemed relieved. Better her than us. Another guard entered the room, closing the door behind him. She flinched when she heard gunshots and screaming.

For a moment, she felt relief. _Better them than me._ Until she remembered that Jack wanted her.. somewhere. The dread that pooled in her stomach made her feel like that maybe, THEY were the lucky ones.

 

* * *

 

 

She expected ‘up’ to be above ground level. That maybe they had been underground or something. ‘Up’ turned out to be a space shuttle and she had a sudden realization that she was about to be taken up on Helios. No! Not up in the dragon’s lair!

She freaked and punched the guard in the face. His helmeted face. All she got out of that was a hand that felt broken and the guard laughing and mocking her. _You son of a bitch! If I had a gun, you’d be SO dead!_

The space shuttle looked more like a limousine. She sat between two guards across from the last man she ever wanted to be in a room with. Handsome Jack had been sitting leaned back with one foot resting on his knee as Rickie almost felt like puking from the trip up through the atmosphere. Good thing she hadn’t eaten anything in.. one and a half day.

Jack apparently found it amusing that she was sending him death glares the whole trip. _Smug bastard, looking so goddamn pleased with himself!_

 

* * *

 

 

As a pandorian, Rickie is not used to going to the doctor. In fact, you only went to a doctor if you were literally dying, because there was a huge chance that the trip to the doctor itself would kill you instead. So only go there if you are dying anyway.

Now, she was being prodded by a hyperion doctor. The only reason she wasn’t currently strangling the doctor was the several guns that was up and ready to give the poor doctor more work to do. At least her cuffs were off.

While all these dull tests were performed, Jack were leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. His eyes never left her. It made her skin crawl.

The doctor tucked his stethoscope back around his neck as he turned to Jack. “Right, sir! Everything seems to be okay and we can begin the procedure.”

WOW WOW WOW Hold on! Procedure? Nope! It’s about time she left anyway. Thanks for nothing, lets never see each other again!

Rickie made a break for it. No way in hell! As soon as she passed Jack, he extended his arm and wrapped around her midsection. Almost as if he KNEW, that she didn’t want whatever was going to happen and would run? Strange.

Kicking did nothing to the man, as she was lifted onto a cushioned surface where she was forced to lay on her stomach. The table had a hole for her face to stick through as they strapped her head and limbs down.

She couldn’t move. Her back was exposed to these sadistic monsters. Okay. She was ready to beg now. Or cry. She didn’t know which one but she was pretty sure that none of those options would stop whatever was about to happen. _Just stop stop STOP!_

They brushed her hair from her neck and she felt panic flood her veins. The restraints kept her from moving but she managed to make the table shake.

 

Then came the pain.

 

Something that felt like a needle stung her neck and went deeper and deeper. Then another and another. Deep in her cervical spine. I hurt so goddamn much that she thought she was gonna pass out! Finally the tears came. They blurred her vision as they fell to the floor beneath her. Her fingers and toes curled as the pain went on and on.

"Alright, all done."

Rickie breath a sigh of relief. The needles in her neck felt like they had not been removed though.

She sat up after being unstrapped even though she barely had the energy. Damn she had done a lot of struggling today.

 

 

Her tired eyes were fixed on the floor as a pair of nice shoes entered her field of vision. Looking up the smug son of a bitch were smirking at her. What was he so happy about? What had they done?

 

She felt around her neck until she felt.. something metallic.

"Yeah.. I wouldn't play around with that too much if I were you." Jack lifted something small between his fingers that looked like a remote.

"This little thing is linked to the device I just had installed into your spine. It cannot be removed without surgery or me putting in the password. If you try to remove it anyway or you do something that I don't like.. THIS shocking thing is going to happen."

 

As Jack pressed the button, every single of Rickie's muscles tensed up as a current of electricity ran through her body. After what seemed like forever it stopped. Her body was laying on the floor and shaking.

 

"Get it? Shocking? I wanted to have a collar but they are so much easier to remove. So, here we are! With you having a metal slug biting into your neck. Do you like your present sweetie?"

 _I'm going to murder that man_.

 

Jack bent down and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. Her hair was messy, tears in her eyes, breathing heavily from the shock. She probably looked like a mess.

 

"So you are gonna be a good girl and not cause me any trouble. Are we clear?" The remote dangled threateningly in front of her face. Mocking her.

 

Even though it hurt physically and her pride, she nodded.

 

What was Handsome Jack gonna do to her?

 

 


	2. Too good to be true

Rickie silently followed Jack down the hall. She had no strength left. She was tired and so goddamn hungry! The thought of food was not appealing though. The fear pooled in her stomach which made her feel like puking. Because, want could Jack possible want a girl for?

Sex. 

She was going to be this psychos goddamn sex slave! Why her? Didn’t he have like a whole space station full of willing women who was more than ready to spread their legs for him? What did she have that they couldn’t provide?

_ Oh god! _  She thought. There was no women who were willing to be ABUSED! This pervert was going to friking torture her and get off on it! What did he have in store for her? Strangulation? Whipping? Was he going to beat her senseless and break her bones? Or was he just going to hold down that damn button until he felt satisfied? 

“Come on, pumpkin!” Jack barked as Rickie had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t realized they were entering an elevator. 

Hurrying inside, she stood as far from him as she possible could, which only made Jack chuckle. 

“Don’t be scared, kitten. I don’t bite.”

She didn’t believe that for a second. They exited the elevator and entered a hallway that took her breath away. It was so different from the sterile environment downstairs. Grand paintings! Fresh flowers! Art! Handsome Jack was wealthy and he wasn’t afraid to show it. 

They entered a room to the left and Rickie’s breath hitched. This was it. A bedroom. No. She wasn’t ready! She couldn’t! Should she run? No, she couldn’t! That damn remote! Play dead? Nah, the fucker would probably just fuck her ‘corpse’ anyway!  _ What do I do? What do I do??? _

“Aaalright. Here we go! Use this for now, until we get you something that fits.” 

Peering into the room, Jack was holding a plain white dress. Rickie was confused. Why would he give her clothes if they were about to fuck? Taking the dress and slipping it on, she found it a little too big. Didn’t matter. She was just happy to be covered up again. 

“Looks great! Hurry up sweet cheeks, I’m starving. Let’s eat!” 

Food?  _ Yes! Fuck! Yes!  _ She wanted to eat so badly. She almost tripped over her own bare feet, trying to follow the man who promised food. 

* * *

The dining room... no. Dining HALL was just huge! Jack and Rickie sat opposite each other at the ends of a long dining table. It seemed so ridiculous to sit so far from the person you’re dining with. Rickie figured there were space for at least 14 people on either side of her! 

Jack snapped his fingers and a waiter appeared by his side within seconds. 

“Wilson, bring us some wine. No, champagne! We’re celebrating tonight!” Jack threw his arms in the air to emphasize his point. 

“Excellent choice, sir” Wilson bowed and quickly disappeared. 

“Quit the flirting you old hag!” He halfheartedly called after the waiter before turning to her. “Heh, I don’t know his name but I like calling him Wilson so I can scream his name like: WIIIILSOOOON!” Jack laughed as if he had just told a great joke. He wiped his eye as his laughter died down. 

“You know? Like the movie?” 

“...” 

“What’s the matter? Skag's got your tongue?” 

“...” 

“What’s going on in that noggin of yours?”

_ Die die die die die die diediediediediedie! _

The waiter, Wilson appeared with a bottle of champagne and poured Jack a glass. He then went to Rickie and poured her one as well. Jack took his glass and raised it.

“Cheers babe! Congratulations on being picked by Handsome Jack himself! You get to live another day!” Jack was downing his glass and Wilson hurried to refill it. 

Alcohol, huh? Was Jack trying to get her drunk? Was it so she was easier to manhandle in bed? Rickie didn’t want that and yet… with that remote Jack could control her. It was gonna happen no matter what. There was no way out. Rickie would rather be numb through the whole ordeal so she downed her glass as well. 

Damn! That was great stuff! Rickie had never tried champagne before. It was amazing! She was quite delighted that her glass got refilled. 

“You know..” Jacks voice broke the silence. “I never got your name.”

The only answer was Rickie shooting daggers at him. Her lips clenched shut in defiance. Or mistrust. Probably both. 

“Fine! Don’t tell me! I’ll just call you.. Spunk, then.” 

Rickie's stink eye just became tenfold.  She didn’t fall for the bait. Jack simply smirked and chuckled. 

“Right. Okay, enough conversation!” Jack snapped his fingers. “Let’s eat!” 

Wilson returned with two silver plates and placed them in front of Jack and her. 

And it was stunning! 

She had expected Jack to eat a pristine meal while she got served something that resembled skag feed, just to piss her off and show her who’s boss. Instead they not only got to eat the same food, but it looked gorgeous! 

There was a steak with some orange sauce, a bunch of prawns on top of something green and what looked like a cinnamon roll but instead of bread it was made of salmon with some white cream in it. There was lots of different vegetables as well and a tiny swirl of what looked like mashed potato that had been baked until the top was golden brown. She had never eaten anything like this in her entire life. It was too good to be true!

… it WAS too good to be true. 

 

She eyed Jack with suspicion as he dug into his food. What was he planning? 

Was the food poisoned? It probably wan't. He had spent so much money and time on whatever was in her neck. On the other hand this guy was rich!  This was probably pocket change for him. He could probably do this every day just for shits and giggles. When she took a bite her insides would probably dissolve and Jack would point and laugh at how stupid she was while she died painfully on the floor. If anything seemed too good to be true it usually was. As much as she wanted to just give in and eat the incredible smelling food, she didn’t. Even though it would probably be a delicious last meal. 

“What’s the hold up, kiddo? Not hungry?” 

_ I’m not falling for that you freak! _

“Come on! Try it! Bet ya never had anything like this before!” Jack downed another glass which again, got refilled. 

Rickie scowled at him defiantly, crossing her arms. 

Jack was about to take another sip, but stopped in his movement. 

“Hey, you better lose that attitude. It stopped being cute five minutes ago. Now, be a good little girl and eat.” She wanted to disobey. But that DAMN remote! She wanted to kill that bastard so badly!

Her eyes fell on the steak knife by her plate. A weapon! 

He put down his glass. “Are you listening to me? I said: Eat!” A cold shiver ran down her spine. Jacks whole being screamed power and promises of violence. It was impressive how he could turn from carefree to dangerous in a mere second. 

When Jack lifted his glass to take another sip Rickie knew that this was her chance. She grabbed the knife and ran as fast as she could. Jack seemed to already know what she was about to do as he casually pulled the remote from his pocket and pressed it without even stopping drinking. 

Electricity ran through her body once again. Her muscles tensed. She shook and fell to the floor where she continued to spasm for what seemed like forever! It was definitely longer than the first time. Much longer. She thought she had passed out when she heard Jacks voice. 

“I’m not going to say it again. Eat!” 

Rickie felt like crying. She realized now, that she was truly powerless to this man. This MONSTER! He would decide when she ate, when she slept, where she went and when to spread her fucking legs! It was a harsh truth that she didn’t want to face. But that was her life now and she just had to deal with it or keel over and fucking die! 

She just laid there for a moment until she could move again. Slow and sluggish she got to her feet. She had to use the table for support as she limped back to her seat. As she fell into the plush material she noticed that a new knife had replaced the one she took. She almost laughed at how fucked up and hopeless this whole situation was. 

Defeated, she lifted her heavy arms and finally dug into her food. God it was delicious! She almost moaned. This was the single greatest meal she'd ever had. The steak was perfect and the sauce tasted faintly like whiskey while the prawns tasted like chilli, but sweet? She ate everything. Even the vegetables. She was so goddamn hungry and the food was so amazing. She almost licked the plate. 

She downed three more glasses of champagne before she finished her food. She had almost forgotten all about Jack, who had smirked through the whole ordeal. 

“See? Good things happen when you just obey.” 

Rickie tensed. She wanted to throw something at the idiot, but the alcohol just made her feel sooo good and relaxed. She just wanted to curl up and sleep right now. She did cross her arms though. No need to boost this guys ego. Don’t let him know what you feel. Don’t give him that power. 

“Aww, don’t be like that cupcake. Sooner or later you  gotta  realize that I make the rules and you just  gotta  have to deal with that.” 

Jack rose from his seat and strode out the room. “Come along, Spunk! Let’s have some fun!” 

Fun.

How she dreaded that. She didn’t want to go. She didn’t want any of this! Jack could take his fancy dinner and shove it! She looked at her knife again. Jack had left the room!  S he could take it and stab him when she got close !  Taking it, she hid it behind her wrist. If she kept at an angle, Jack shouldn’t be able to see it before it was too late. 

Looking out the dining hall she saw Jack turn around a corner down the hall.  _ Get in close and stab him.  _

Turned out that they weren’t going to his bedroom, but a living room. There were a plush couch and a gigantic tv. Bigger than she had ever seen. Not that there was a lot of tv’s down on Pandora, but they weren’t all savages! Something Jack could never understand. All he thought of  pandorians  were that they all were evil bandits and he was the hero.  _ What a joke. In WHAT story could you be the hero? _  Jack was already sitting with his arm slouched over the back, flipping through displays of different movies.  _ I can do this. _  She would have preferred to stab him in the back but the couch was placed against a wall. 

Sitting down, she tried to act normal. The knife now hidden by her leg. She was about to do the deed when Jack  turned his head .

“So, what are you into? Drama? Action?” She just shrugged.  _ Go back to watching the screen, already! _  “Oh, but before we  start.. ” 

Jack reached into his jacket and pulled a gun on her.

“Drop it.” He ordered coldly. 

_ How did he..? _

Scowling, she dropped the knife on the coffee table in front of them with a huge thud. Then crossed her arms and sat back, slouching heavily. How had he known about the knife? Did he see it or did he just expect her to do it? Jack simply put the gun away and picked a movie, as if it was normal to almost get stabbed every Tuesday. But on the other hand, maybe it was. Jack had a lot of enemies.  She would have expected him to be angry at least, but he just seemed so... amused by everything she did. Maybe he would take revenge later in the bedroom. A shuddering thought. 

“You know..” Jack pulled her from her thoughts. “I haven’t heard a single word from you this entire time and it’s starting to piss me off. Don’t get me wrong, I like hearing my own voice. Everybody does! But even I knows that it takes two to tango.”

_ Oh?  _ _ Oooooh _ _!  _ Keeping quiet is annoying him?  Well..  She can’t attack him, but slightly annoying him? That would have to be the next best thing. Keeping quiet was not hard. And if it was a pain in the ass then she would do everything in her power to keep it that way.

Finding some sort of satisfaction with her new discovery she smiled like a cat who’s got her cream, making a point of ignoring him by watching the screen. 

From the corner of her eye she could see Jack roll his eyes before he muttered. “Bet ya can’t even tango anyway.” Wait. Did Jack sulk? Oh my god! The big scary Handsome Jack was sulking like a five year old. This was just too great!

Jack suddenly threw his arms in the air. 

“Well, yeah. Playtime's over! Bedtime!” 

_ Oh god, no.  _

* * *

 

Jack led her back through the halls of his home. She kept a straight face, but on the inside, she was screaming. She wanted to run. To get out. Anything else than this. At Pandora there was always the risk of rape, but at least you could expect it to be a one-time thing with maybe a merciful quick death right after. This was  gonna  be a lifelong thing or at least until Jack got bored or found something better. She could of course always off herself, but she had to admit that she didn’t want to die. 

Maybe after a year or two here, her perspective might change. But until  then..

“Get in.” 

Looking up they had arrived at the same room where she had received the dress. This was confusing as it didn’t look like what she’d imagine Jack’s bedroom would look like. For starters, the bed looked like it only fit one person. Unless he didn’t want to fuck his sex slave on his own bed. 

Having no choice, she stepped inside and starred with dread at the bed. How she fucking feared that damn thing! How many awful nights were she going to spend in that, underneath Jack? Her head filled with years' worth of awful events and scenarios. One more dreadful than the other. 

“Sleep tight, Spunk.” Jack said, before the door closed and the electronic lock, could be heard.

 

_ Huh? _  Turning around, she was left alone.  _ What just happened? _  Jack hadn’t joined her. He said goodnight, which meant he wasn’t coming back tonight. Were they not gonna..? 

 

Rickie’s knees buckled under her. She hadn’t realized just how stressed she had been and her legs finally gave up.  _ Not tonight.  _ She comforted herself. She knew it would happen eventually, but not  tonight..  for whatever reason. She didn’t care. She was too tired. 

Picking herself up, she walked with unsteady legs over to the bed and fell into it. It was amazingly soft! Softer than anything she had ever felt! It was so comfortable and she was just so tired. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep. 

_ Not tonight.  _


	3. Croissants and guns

Soft. Everything was cool, soft and comfortable.  _Wait._  Cool? Soft? Comfortable? Pandora was NONE of those things! Rickie jolted out of bed in an unfamiliar place. A bedroom that looked way too classy to be her home. Oh wait. That’s right. Rickie was now Handsome Jack’s slave.  

Just to be sure, she felt for that shocking device on her neck. The metal was warm because of her body heat and felt like it was made of several layers, like a spine. She did some neck-exercises to test her movability. From what she could feel, it didn’t really hinder her in any way. Also, it didn’t hurt anymore, just a slight throbbing.  

 

The room was as big as her entire home, back at pandora. Against the wall, stood a fully stocked desk with paper, several types of writing utensils and... a computer! It couldn’t be, right? Jack wouldn’t give her a way of contacting people, right?  

Finding it already turned on, she quickly searched the comm system. But Jack wasn’t stupid. All contact off station was blocked. Still, why give her the opportunity to contact anybody at all? So he could booty-call her wherever he was? A chilling thought. But... even IF she could contact her friends on Pandora... what could they do? No way in hell could they rescue her, so what would have been the friking point? The only way she would ever get off this space station was by taking matters into her own hands or if Jack shot her out through an airlock. She sat back in the office chair and sighted. Damn, was every goddamn piece on furniture on this space station just made of clouds?  

Going back to look around, she found a gigantic bookshelf that covered one of the walls entirely. It was filled with books, picture frames and even a potted plant here and there. Was she allowed to read them? Was this even her room from now on, or was it just a guestroom Jack had shoved her into, until he found a permanent solution?  

Beside a big closet, was a door that probably led to the bathroom. A sudden pang of excitement filled her and she leaped into the bathroom. If everything else was so lavish then certainly...  _ohmygodyes_. The shower cabin was HUGE!!!  

Stripping out of her dress, she stepped inside and turned on the water, which sprayed from the celling like rain. After the cold shock of water, she was amazed that the water quickly turned warm! She couldn’t remember the last time she had the luxury of a hot shower. The water did amazing things to her sore muscles after all that struggle, she had done the day before. She looked around for a bar of soap, but only found several bottles. Opening one of them, she found that it certainly smelled like soap, so she squirted a healthy amount into her hair. She deserved to pamper herself on Jack’s penny.  

 

* * *

 

Wrapped in a fluffy towel, she exited the bathroom and found herself digging through the closet. No way was she going to walk around another second without pants around Jack. The closet contained several different outfits in different sizes. She found pants, but not a single one fit her! There were no belts either so she couldn’t just secure a big pair around her hips. At least there was underwear.  

She angrily dug through literally everything to find some type of pants and found a small package that had a picture of some mutant breed between pants and socks. They were skin-colored and formfitting. The text read: ‘nylon stockings’. Whatever that was. Anyway, mutant pants were better than no pants. A least it would be a layer more between her and her rapist.  

She wanted to just wear a shirt, but felt her butt too exposed in these weird thin, see through sock-pants. She threw on a black dress with white polka dots and a brown leather jacket.  

There was no shoes, but on the other hand, there were no risk of her cutting her feet open on rocks or anything on Helios.  

 

Feeling more protected behind several layers, she went for the door. There was no doorknob, just a solid door with a glass panel on the wall beside it. She began poking around to figure out how she could escape. Maybe it was a display to input a code, but she didn’t see any numbers. Poking it did nothing so she placed her whole hand on the thing.  

Suddenly, she saw a red line of light scan her hand. It gave off an offended beep, as to tell her she was an idiot for even trying. Of fucking course. Jacks hand was probably the only thing that could open this door.  

She pondered for a moment if she should just punch the thing to see if that would short-circuit the thing and open up, but figured she did not want to be trapped in the room if it had the opposite effect.  

Time felt like it stood still on Helios. Without the sun, she had no idea what time of day it was. It could be midnight for all she knew.  

 

Suddenly, a click sound came from the door. Rickie flinched and turned towards the door. It didn’t open. Nobody came in. Confused, she approached the door. There was still no doorknob, but the click had sounded like a lock. Maybe... She placed her palm on the panel next to the door and the door just slid open.  

Peering outside she found no one. She could smell coffee, though. Instead of following the wonderful smell, she went the other direction, towards the exit. She didn’t know how long she had or how she was gonna escape, but she was not about to go the direction handsome Jack was in.  

Coming up to the elevator, she found that again, the door didn’t have buttons but another palm scanner. Since her own door had worked, she tried to scan her hand. Not only did it not work, a pre-recorded message from Jack, played from a tiny speaker: “Nice try, cupcake.”  

She tried again, several times. Each time earning her the same recording. 

“Nice try, cupcake. Nice try, cupcake. Ni- Ni- Ni- Nice try, cupcake.” 

Rickie ended up slamming her fist into the scanner, but found that Hyperion technology was not as fragile as she had expected.  

 

With her pride hurt more than her hand, she entered a small kitchen, where the smell of coffee came from. Her tiny wish of Jack just stopping existing, unfortunately hadn’t come true. Jack sat and drank his morning coffee while reading something on a tablet. There was a bowl of some halfmoon shaped pastries on the table which, by the indication of crumbs on his plate, he had eaten one of.  

He looked like he was in a bad mood or maybe it was just a case of the morning grumpiness. Rickie was not a morning person at all, but the hostile situation that was her new life made all her senses work overtime, so she was wide awake. It was like walking inside a skag cave and Jack was a Badass Corrosive Skag. 

Rickie spotted a half full coffeemaker. She wasn’t going to sit and wait to be fed like some puppy, so she went over and rummaged through the cabinets for a mug. She acquired her coffee and sat down, grabbing one of the pastries. She didn’t need a plate. She was starving. It had a lovely flakey outside while being soft and fluffy on the inside. It just tasted like sweet bread, but she loved it! Was she going to be able to eat good food like this in the future? For now, she was perfectly happy that Jack was too tired to acknowledge her existence, as she chowed down 4 of them and drank her coffee.  

“I’m going to do some work for a couple of hours.” Jack suddenly broke the silence and drained his coffee before standing up. “Afterwards..” He said, smirking like a shark. “you and I are gonna have some quality time.” Jack strolled out and Rickie regretted having eaten so many pastries. She felt like puking. 

 

Sighing, she suddenly didn’t have much energy and decided to read in her room. She did enjoy reading, but books were scarce on Pandora. Picking a random one, she flopped down on the bed. She was trapped, alone and scared of her future.  

She had to be the most miserable person on this entire space station. 

 

* * *

 

Rhys had to be the most miserable person on this entire space station.  

He had spent years of working his way up the corporate ladder, only to find that the biggest promotion of his life was forcefully taken by his rival Hugo Vasquez, by air locking their former boss who was about to retire and had more or less promised Rhys his position.  

“I can’t believe ASSquez just screwed you over like that!” Vaughn complained between mouthfuls of pasta.  

“I can’t believe he killed Henderson.” Rhys felt awful that his former boss got brutally murdered, when he was about to retire and just enjoy the rest of his life. It was of course dangerous to work for Hyperion, especially the higher positions due to backstabbing. But to die on the final stretch?  

“Hey!” Rhys snapped out of his thoughts by Vaughns call. “Remember, it’s not your fault. Vasquez knew he was about to lose to you and Henderson wasn’t on guard. It’s nobody's fault but Hugo's. Now, we have to focus on how we move forward.”  

_Move forward._  Rhys and Vaughn had worked so hard to get where they were, only for their plan to fail when they thought they already had won. There was no plan now and Rhys was just so exhausted.  

“But first...”  

Vaughn reached into his pocket and showed Rhys two tickets to... 

Rhys gaped. “Are those...” He grabbed the tickets and look down at his smirking friend. 

“Yup! Two tickets to the Handsome Jack tour.” 

Rhys was about to cry. “You even got the extended version!” 

“The full Jack-experience. It was supposed to be your big promotion gift, but let’s use them as the pre-taking-down-assquez-for-screwing-us-over-fuck-him-experience! This extended tour will even take us to Jacks trophy room! We might even see him in person.” 

Rhys simply loved his best bro right now! He could kiss him! Even with a little tongue, maybe. 

“...Bro.” 

“Bro.” 

“Bro!” 

“Bro.” 

“Bro.” 

“Bro.” 

They bro-fisted and gave each other a manly bro-hug. Bro’s for life.  

 

* * *

 

Rhys felt like a little boy on Christmas. He and Vaughn had spent nearly two hours following this tour group, taking selfies and eating snacks. This had to be the best present in the whole universe.  

They were currently exiting the only elevator that went all the way up to the trophy room. This was also the entrance to Jacks office. It was glorious. The hall had a gigantic mural of Jack and other cool stuff. 

 

And there it was..! 

 

_“_ _Buttstallion_ _!”_ He whispered as he took off his VIP tour Hansome Jack mask. “She’s goddamn gorgeous.” Rhys had only seen the diamond pony in pictures, but she was even more amazing in real life. 

“Legend says she moves at night.” One of the VIP’s piped up. 

“That’s just a rumor!” Another one said. 

“No, I swear! I’ve seen pictures of her in different positions!”  

“Nah mate! That’s photo editing. THIS is the real deal!” They all turned to Buttstallions glory.  

“All hail, Buttstallion.” They all said in unison.  

 

The tour guide began talking about the different trophies in the room, but Rhys mind was elsewhere. He already knew it all. He was lost in thoughts about Jack as he watched the mural.  _I want to be just like him._  Rhys was so immersed that he didn’t even notice the room got quiet. Instead, he felt it. He suddenly got the chills as his neck hair stood on end. He looked over at the entrance and there he was. 

 

Handsome Jack.  

 

Big and proud, walking with purpose. The man had an aura of power around him. He was above everyone else. He didn’t even spare the group a glance as he walked past them. He was even better in person! The hair. The muscles.  His tattoos. And of course, that mysterious mask that hid his true face. People said that Jack was SO handsome underneath, that he needed to cover up his face as to not make everyone faint when they saw him. He was truly a god amongst people. A goddamn hero.  

As Jack walked away, Rhys had an urge to talk to him. He wanted to be noticed by his hero.  _Oh no. He’s walking way. Quick! Say something clever. Or just something at all! He’s leaving._  

 

“JACK!” Rhys yelled. 

 

Time slowed down for Rhys as he saw Handsome Jack turn around. Jack pulled his gun in slow-motion and pointed it at him. So, this was how he was gonna die? By his hero, on the day he had got demoted to janitor by his nemesis. Rhys closed his eyes and prayed that Vaughn would survive as Jack fired and shot the guy beside him.  

Rhys gulped in air. Almost dying made you feel like you had just run a marathon. He looked down at the now dead guy and saw he was holding a gun too. 

“HOW THE HELL...!” Jack yelled as he walked towards the tour guide. “DID SOMEONE BRING A GUN IN HERE?!” The poor woman looked like she was about to faint. Or cry. Maybe both.  

“I- I- I don’t know, sir! I scanned them, sir! I- I swear, H- Handsome Jack sir!” 

Rhys felt bad for her, but at the same time was glad that it wasn’t him, that was the source of Handsome Jacks anger. Activating his echo-eye, he scanned the corpse and found that... 

“I can’t scan the gun.” He said offhandedly, before realizing he was in the presence of Handsome Jack. Said man's attention, was now fully on him. Rhys quickly pointed at his echo eye. 

He wasn’t sure if he was happy or sad when Jack turned to look at the corpse. Urg. Corpse. The realization made his stomach flip.  

“Huh, a gun that can’t be scanned. What a nice little souvenir to bring me.” Picking it up, Jack turned it in his hands and Rhys couldn’t for his life stop starring. Seeing Handsome Jack looking at something with fascination, was some of the most amazing sights in his life. His heart skipped a beat.  

“You. My office.” Jack pointed at him, then his office and briskly walked away. 

Huh? Him? As in, Rhys? As in, the office? As in, Handsome Jacks office? As in, right now?  

Rhys was afraid to follow the man, but terrified of defying his order. His long legs began to mechanically follow him, as he took one last look at friend.  

 

_Goodbye bro._   


End file.
